


Forever

by GraeWrites



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders
Genre: Foster Care, Gen, Human AU, Originally Posted on Tumblr, but mostly this is fluff everyone, small dash of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GraeWrites/pseuds/GraeWrites
Summary: Virgil has less than a year left in the foster system and then he’s gone. But Patton has a question for him. Human!AU.





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> One of the fluffiest fics I've written for Sanders Sides. Hope you all like it! Editing done by me, so all mistakes are mine.

Virgil sighs and runs a hand over his eyes, leaning back in his chair and staring out the window of his bedroom. Evanescence plays quietly from his computer. A pre-calculus textbook rests open on the desk, with pencil scratches in the notebook beside it parroting the information.

This is the sixth bedroom window he has stared out of in his short 16-almost-17 years.

A school bus drives down the suburban street and stops at the corner. Late afternoon sun pours in through the glass and leaves squares of light on the beige carpet. He had a few posters up—Dear Evan Hansen and My Chemical Romance specifically—but there wasn’t much in the way of decoration. He didn’t often keep much of what he did acquire. He had a picture frame on his desk of the night that his host family had tried to help Roman—their kid, only a few months older than Virgil was—with the waltz from when the high school was doing  _Cinderella_. Patton has his hand on Logan’s shoulder, blushing and grinning. Logan looks almost too serious, like he’s trying to hide his real reaction, with his arm placed gingerly on his husband’s waist. Roman is face-palming in the background.

Virgil had quietly and quickly snapped the image on his phone before any of them noticed. He’d only been with them for about year and a half, but there was something safe and familiar about it in a way Virgil had never—ever—felt before.

His attention is caught when he hears a knock on the door.

Virgil straightens up suddenly, setting the frame face-down and grabbing his pencil. He coughs. “Uh, come in.”

The door opens slowly, and Virgil sees Patton poke his head around the corner. “Hey, kiddo,” he says with a smile. There’s something off about it, though. Nervous, almost.

Virgil cocks an eyebrow. “Hi…” he says slowly.

Patton quietly closes the door behind him. “Working hard on that homework, huh?”

“Um, I guess.” Virgil glances down at his notebook. If he was being honest, he’d been struggling for the past hour. Maybe he could ask Logan for some help again…

Patton nods absently, glancing around the room. Virgil feels a knot of worry pull at his stomach.

As irrational as he tried to tell himself it was, Virgil couldn’t help but wonder suddenly if this was it. If Patton and Logan were finally going to tell him that it just wasn’t working out. A part of him always wondered this whenever one of them tried to talk to him unexpectedly or seemed to behave strangely. Maybe they’d finally decided that they wanted to get back to their normal lives. They already had their son Roman, after all. Things had been going so well, Virgil thought.

But maybe that was exactly the problem; Virgil tended to think things were finally good just before the rug would get pulled out from under his feet…

“Kiddo?”

Virgil blinks and tries to force a smile. “Sorry. Zoned out.”

Patton tilts his head. “Something on your mind, Virge?”

“Is something on yours?”

Patton glances away. “Well, actually,” he says, and Virgil feels his stomach sink. “Do you have a minute, kiddo?”

That was the third time he’d used ‘kiddo’ since coming into Virgil’s room. The teen couldn’t help but feel like that had to be a bad sign. “Uh, yeah. I guess.” His stomach squirms uncomfortably.  _Here it comes._

Patton crosses the room and sits on the corner of his bed closest to Virgil. The teen swallows and swivels his chair over to face him. Patton has his hands folded in his lap. He tries to smile.

Virgil had always felt like Patton radiated brightness and hope—something that helped the transition to their home more than he’d ever admit aloud—but there’s something distinctly  _off_  about him now. Virgil can’t place it.

“Honey, Logan and I have been talking. He wanted to be here, but he thought it was better if… for now, it was just one of us.”

Virgil blows out a slow breath and clenches his jaw against the emotions churning his stomach. He averts his gaze as Patton continues softly.

“You’ve been living with us for about a year and a half now. When you came to us, you’d already been to four other homes and six other schools. And when Logan and I first met you, I knew I’d never be able to fully understand what you’ve gone through. But I wanted to try, because I could tell right away that you were such a passionate and wonderful kid even if you were a bit quiet at first.”

The lump in Virgil’s throat hardens. His eyes burn.

Patton shifts forward a bit but Virgil can’t bring himself to meet his eyes. Patton reaches a hand out as if to touch him before stopping and pulling his hand back. Virgil winces internally.

“And over the past year…” Patton continues. He laughs softly, but Virgil can hear the tears just below its surface. “God, kiddo, it’s been nothing less than an absolute joy to have you here. I still remember the first time I saw you laugh. You had been with us almost a month. I cracked a typical dad joke, and for the briefest moment… your whole face lit up.” There’s a pause. “I knew then that I never wanted that look to leave your face.”

Virgil glances up. The corner of Patton’s mouth is curls up in a soft smile. His eyes are shining. “I remember that,” he admits softly. He didn’t remember the specifics of the joke so much as how much joy lit up Patton’s face after he delivered the punch line, and Logan’s loud groan that immediately followed it.

Patton smiles a little more. “I remember the first time Roman convinced you to get involved in theatre.”

Virgil shrugs, but the memory tightens something in his chest. “I just did it to get him to shut up about it.”

“Sure, for that first one,” Patton says with a knowing look. “And then you helped with the set for Into the Woods and it only took two more shows before they put you in charge of set design. The work you did was  _beautiful_ , Virge. Every time. Roman bragged about it to pretty much everyone who would listen.”

Virgil scratches the back of his neck, hoping Patton didn’t notice the blush he could feel heating his cheeks. “I mean…”

Patton smiles. “The first time you asked Logan for help with your homework completely made his night, you know.”

“What?” Virgil shakes his head.

Logan’s a high school science teacher. Virgil had been almost certain he’d been pestering him with his questions—the teen highly doubted that a teacher coming home from work enjoyed doing  _more_  teaching when he could be relaxing—but he’d had a big exam the next day and was confused. So when Logan asked how the homework was going, Virgil figured maybe being honest wouldn’t be such a bad call this time. He could at least know that Logan would know the answers, right?

Patton nods. “I mean it. You two spent almost three hours going over chemistry. When Logan came upstairs after you went to bed, Virge, you know what he said to me?”

Wordlessly, Virgil shakes his head.

“He said how grateful he was that you trusted him enough to ask for help. He knew how hard that had been for you. And that he actually had a lot of  _fun_  helping you study.” Patton pauses. Virgil can feel his gaze on him. “He also said how incredibly bright you are, and how you’ve never really given yourself enough credit.”

The teen looks up, startled and disbelieving. “He…” His voice catches briefly in his throat and Virgil coughs to cover it up. “He said that?”

“He did. And he really meant it, Virgil.”

Virgil shakes his head again and looks out the window. A small group of kids shout at each other as they ride their bikes down the street. He didn’t understand. Why was Patton bringing all of this up now? Was he just setting up for a bigger fall? Was he then going to start talking about all of the times Virgil had screwed up?

He still remembers the first time they fought. Virgil had come home late, almost an hour after curfew. He hadn’t expected them to still be awake—nobody else had ever waited up for him—but when he walked through the door, Patton was on his feet and Logan was calmly sitting on the couch. Both of them had waited up, and both were upset with him for being late. Virgil had said something about getting off his case. He was home now, anyway. And besides, he wasn’t even their kid so what did it matter? (He hadn’t meant it—not really. But he’d never had someone before who  _cared_  when he didn’t show up on time.)

He’ll never forget the look on Patton’s face after the words slipped out of his mouth. Or Logan’s quiet gaze as he suggested they all get some sleep and talk about it again in the morning.

“Um,” Virgil says, his voice tight. “This trip down memory lane is great and all, but… why bring this all up now?”

Patton takes in a deep breath. “Well, Logan and I have a question we’d like to ask you.”

Virgil looks at his forgotten textbook, unseeing. He glances at his hands. Anywhere but at Patton.  _It was nice while it lasted._  Virgil was almost 17 anyway. Just over a year left in the system. What was one more move, right?“Okay.”

“Virgil,” Patton says softly, “Would you like to be adopted?”

He freezes. His thoughts trip over themselves in stammering fragments. For a moment, he can’t form a coherent thought let alone get any words to come out of his mouth.

“Kiddo?” Patton asks after a moment, tilting his head. Worry and nervousness saturates his voice.

“I…”  _Would you like to be adopted?_  Patton’s question echoes in his mind over and over again.

Even though he isn’t looking at him, Virgil can hear in his voice the way Patton’s face falls. “We don’t want to pressure you. That’s why Logan thought it was better if it was just me. If you don’t want to be adopted, that’s okay. You can tell me, honey.”

Virgil opens his mouth, then closes it. He tries again. “I… why?” Internally, he winces. That’s not exactly what he’d meant to say.

Patton is quiet for a moment. Virgil’s gaze rises to meet his, but Patton looks down at his hands. “You’re one us, Virgil. We all love you, and… we want you to be officially part of our family. But… if that’s not what  _you_  want, that’s okay.”

Virgil’s brow pulls together in confusion. “I… I’ve got just over a year in the system. The adopting process takes months. I…” He feels like his heart is about to burst out of his chest. Every part of him is shouting at him to just say  _yes_ , but he needs to know that Patton and Logan and Roman all know exactly what they’re getting themselves into. Was he really worth that much effort?

Patton looks confused, and maybe a little hurt. “We know that, kiddo.”

Virgil shakes his head. “Are… are you both sure? I mean, in a year I’ll be out of your hair. And that’s a whole process, and…”

“Family is forever, kiddo. It doesn’t end when you turn 18 unless you want it to,” he replies, at once both soft and firm. He looks at Virgil again. There is something so sincere and earnest and  _hopeful_ in his eyes that Virgil feels his own start to burn with tears.

“I’m…” Virgil takes in a shaking breath. His vision blurs and he quickly brushes the back of his hand across his eyes.

“It’s okay, Virgil,” Patton tells him softly and gently. “Do you want some time to think about it?”

“N-No!” Virgil suddenly blurts out as Patton stands. “I… I’m sorry. I know my answer.”

Patton slowly lowers himself back down on the edge of the bed. He takes in a deep steadying breath as if steeling himself, and nods. “Are you sure?”

Virgil’s hands are shaking and he laughs, breathy and wet. “Yeah. I… Yes. My answer is yes.”

There’s a beat of silence.

Virgil can feel the tears still pressing at the back of his eyes when he finally looks back up at Patton across from him. Patton’s eyes are wide. “You’re positive, Virgil?”

“ _Yes_ , Dad.”

The name slips off Virgil’s tongue. He’d never called Patton ‘dad’ before. He’d thought about it, but he wasn’t sure how it would come across. He’d only been here for about eighteen months. And he’d never called  _anyone_  the term before. But it feels… right.

Patton’s breath catches, his eyes suddenly shining with tears. “Virge… did you just say…”

Virgil ducks his head. “Sorry, was that weird? I-it just… slipped out, but if you don’t want—“

Patton cuts him off by grabbing for him and pulling him suddenly out of the chair and into a hug. “No, kiddo, it’s…  _great_ ,” he says emphatically. Virgil, startled by the suddenness of the contact, freezes for a moment before relaxing into the hug. He feels Patton give him a gentle, reassuring squeeze before pulling back. His smile lights up his entire face.

Virgil opens his mouth to say something, brushing the sleeve of his hoodie across his eyes, when the door swings open. Roman trips and stumbles into the room, looking embarrassed and flustered.

“O-Oh. Uh,” Roman stammers, scratching the back of his head.

“Roman,” Patton chides lightly, letting his arms fall from Virgil’s shoulders. “It’s not nice to eavesdrop.”

Roman’s face flushes and Virgil barely hides a laugh.

He’s so deliriously happy. He hasn’t felt this way in a very, very long time.

Roman ducks his head. “Sorry, Padrè.” He casts a sheepish look at Virgil. “Sorry, Virge. I just…” He bites his lip and for a split second, Virgil feels worry tighten in his stomach. Did they not ask Roman how he felt? Did Roman not want him in the family?

But then Roman grins. “I just got really excited, okay? You guys asked me about this  _weeks_  ago. I know I’m an excellent actor, I can keep a secret with the best of them, but c’mon. It’s about time you asked him.” His gaze swivels over to Virgil. “You said yes, right?”

Virgil smiles a little and scratches the back of his head. “Y-yeah.”

“Excellent. I was thinking, for the party, we could—“

“Calm down, Roman,” says a new but familiar voice. Logan steps into the doorway, leaning against the frame. When he glances at Virgil, he smiles wider than Virgil can ever remember seeing from him. “I am not sure that Virgil wants a party. Although if he does, this is certainly cause enough for celebration.” There’s something in his eyes—something twinkling, warm, and happy—that Virgil can’t quite name.

“Oh,  _Paramorose_  never wants to–“

“Roman,” Logan sighs.

Roman dramatically throws his hands up. “What? Now that we’re going to be officially related, I gotta up my nick-name game.”

Virgil lifts a shoulder. “Bring it on, Fiyer-no,” he says with a forced nonchalance even though hearing Roman say  _officially related_  rings in his head.

“I’ve got a million of them, Sweeney Toddler,” Roman rejoins lightly.

Virgil can’t help it. He smiles a little. Logan sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, but he’s fighting back a smile. Patton laughs and wraps an arm around his shoulder, pulling him in. Virgil blinks when he feels Patton lean his cheek on the top of Virgil’s head.

“Welcome to the family, kiddo,” he says softly.


End file.
